AT the age of 90, RAF veteran Bill Spence is not your average romantic novelist but the man better known as Jessica Blair is on the verge of being crowned queen of romance.

He has been shortlisted for Best Epic Romance at the Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards with his book The Road Beneath Me.

Success on March 17 would make him the first-ever male winner.

If he does take the title, Bill will know who to thank, his beloved wife Joan, who passed away 15 years ago.

When he pictures Jessica Blair he says he sees his spouse of half a ­century “all beauty and strength”.

“She was always very supportive of my writing but also my biggest critic. She was a great help in everything I did. Sadly I lost her back in 1999 but she’s still very much part of my life, especially through my writing.

“I put myself in her shoes and think how would she react but a writer has got to be every character in a book.”

It’s a formula that has drawn a loyal following with Jessica Blair’s books more regularly borrowed from UK libraries than thriller writers Stephen King or John le Carre.

To meet the demand Bill pens one 100,000-word novel every nine months, publishing one a year.

The grandfather from Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, already had 36 westerns under his belt when he wrote his first romantic novel The Red Shawl. Set in Whitby, it was inspired by research he had carried out into the 19th century whaling industry.

I put myself in her shoes and think how would she react but a writer has got to be every character in a book

Bill Spence

The publishers loved it but there was just one thing they wanted to change – his name. “They came up with Jessica Blair and you don’t argue with publishers, so that’s the way it was,” he says.

“It didn’t bother me ‘being’ a woman. Who cares as long as people like the books and I get paid?”

With a lifetime of experience behind him, Bill is taking his success in his stride. Born in Middlesbrough, he trained as a teacher but joined the RAF in July 1942 and flew 36 Lancaster bomber missions over Germany. After being posted to Rhodesia he returned to Britain, married Joan and they raised four children together.

As he finishes work on his 25th romantic novel he admits he is taken aback at this latest plot twist in his far from ordinary life.

“There are only two or three men in the association so we are a bit outnumbered. It was a surprise but a pleasant one,” he says.

“I’ve not written a speech because I don’t think I’ll win.

“Maybe there will still be a few ­people surprised to find out that ­Jessica Blair is really a man.”